Jan. 8, 2005
The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball suffered its fifth-straight road loss to Northern Colorado, 84-70, at the Butler-Hancock Hall in Greeley, CO, on Saturday (Jan. 8).
After being down 4-1 only minutes into the game, Northern Colorado went on a 12-0 run over the course of the next four minutes capped off with a jumper from Sean Nolan at the 14:27 mark to give the Bears a 13-4 lead.
The Broncs were able to cut the lead to eight points with 10:50 remaining in the half when Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX/James E. Taylor H.S.) knocked down a jumper to narrow the margin to 17-9. Following Shankle's shot, the Bears would quickly upped their lead back to double figures when James Randle scored a lay-in at the 10:20 mark. Throughout the remainder of the game, UTPA would never get within 11 points of the lead.
Northern Colorado, who shot 53 percent (17-32) in the first half, extended its lead to as many as 17 points in the first frame when Erik Olson connected on a three-pointer to give the Bears a 40-23 advantage with 1:07 remaining in the half. The Bears would go into halftime with a 40-25 lead in large part to a 27-percent (9-33) shooting performance by the Broncs during the game's first 20 minutes.
In the second half, Northern Colorado continued to play with a safe lead, building it to as many as 20 points at 60-40 when center Kirk Archibeque scored two of his 16 points in the contest with 11:04 remaining. Archibeque also added a team-high eight rebounds.
The Broncs were able to cut the lead down to 12 points with 5:28 left in the contest following a trey from Shankle, but that's the closest that they would cut the deficit. The Bears benefited from another 53-percent (11-21) shooting performance in the second half to secure the victory.
The Broncs, who shot 34 percent (22-65) in the contest, were led by senior Alvaidas Gedminas (Plunge, Lithuania/Kirtland Community College), who scored a team-high 16 points on 6-8 shooting. He also added a team-high nine rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Eric Montalvo (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) scored 13 points while Matt Berry (Tulsa, OK/Indiana State University) added 10 points. Shankle notched eight points and four rebounds in 18 minutes of play.
Northern Colorado had four players reach double figures with Matt Kline scoring a game-high 17 points. Michael Gordy and James Randle each added 12 points a piece.
With the loss, the Broncs fell to under-.500 for the first time this season at 7-8, including dropping six-straight road losses, while Northern Colorado improved its record to 4-13.
UTPA will finish up its six-game road trip with a visit to Utah Valley State on Tuesday (Jan. 11) with game time set for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
